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~Siddhārtha Gautama

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~Dwight D Eisenhower
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~Malcome X
“You don’t die for revolution, you have to live for it.”
~Immoral Technique

Why Are We At War in Yemen?

Most Americans are probably unaware that over the past two weeks the US has launched at least eight drone attacks in Yemen, in which dozens have been killed. It is the largest US escalation of attacks on Yemen in more than a decade. The US claims that everyone killed was a “suspected militant,” but Yemeni citizens have for a long time been outraged over the number of civilians killed in such strikes. The media has reported that of all those killed in these recent US strikes, only one of the dead was on the terrorist “most wanted” list.This significant escalation of US attacks on Yemen coincides with Yemeni President Hadi’s meeting with President Obama in Washington earlier this month. Hadi was installed into power with the help of the US government after a 2011 coup against its long-time ruler, President Saleh. It is in his interest to have the US behind him, as his popularity is very low in Yemen and he faces the constant threat of another coup.In Washington, President Obama praised the cooperation of President Hadi in fighting the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. This was just before the US Administration announced that a huge unspecified threat was forcing the closure of nearly two dozen embassies in the area, including in Yemen. According to the Administration, the embassy closings were prompted by an NSA-intercepted conference call at which some 20 al-Qaeda leaders discussed attacking the West. Many remain skeptical about this dramatic claim, which was made just as some in Congress were urging greater scrutiny of NSA domestic spying programs.

The US has been involved in Yemen for some time, and the US presence in Yemen is much greater than we are led to believe. As the Wall Street Journal reported last week:

“At the heart of the U.S.-Yemeni cooperation is a joint command center in Yemen, where officials from the two countries evaluate intelligence gathered by America and other allies, such as Saudi Arabia, say U.S. and Yemeni officials. There, they decide when and how to launch missile strikes against the highly secretive list of alleged al Qaeda operatives approved by the White House for targeted killing, these people say.”

Far from solving the problem of extremists in Yemen, however, this US presence in the country seems to be creating more extremism. According to professor Gregory Johnson of Princeton University, an expert on Yemen, the civilian “collateral damage” from US drone strikes on al-Qaeda members actually attracts more al-Qaeda recruits:

“There are strikes that kill civilians. There are strikes that kill women and children. And when you kill people in Yemen, these are people who have families. They have clans. And they have tribes. And what we’re seeing is that the United States might target a particular individual because they see him as a member of al-Qaeda. But what’s happening on the ground is that he’s being defended as a tribesman.”

The US government is clearly at war in Yemen. It is claimed they are fighting al-Qaeda, but the drone strikes are creating as many or more al-Qaeda members as they are eliminating. Resentment over civilian casualties is building up the danger of blowback, which is a legitimate threat to us that is unfortunately largely ignored. Also, the US is sending mixed signals by attacking al-Qaeda in Yemen while supporting al-Qaeda linked rebels fighting in Syria.

This cycle of intervention producing problems that require more intervention to “solve” impoverishes us and makes us more, not less, vulnerable. Can anyone claim this old approach is successful? Has it produced one bit of stability in the region? Does it have one success story? There is an alternative. It is called non-interventionism. We should try it. First step would be pulling out of Yemen.

One thought on “Why Are We At War in Yemen?”

Simple… Two reasons. Yemen poses the greatest and most direct threat to the House of Saud with their lock on power inside the behemoth to the North. If a major uprising came, it would originate out of Yemen, IMO. Bahrain might have been a contender, at one time, but Saudi military forces combined with local thugs has smashed dissent there pretty well flat. ‘

The other reason need only see a map. Yemen is in a highly strategic position to cause trouble if the people running that nation have trouble in mind. Seeing that sort isn’t what comes to power is what it’s primarily about, IMO. Yemen’s got it’s own serious civil war though. We’re just shooting targets we think of as opportune from the sidelines and drone attacks from what I have seen.

Humans are not just livestock on someone else's farm, we are the only species on Earth that actually pays rent... The truth is our money is fake. Our debt is fake. Our two party system is fake. Our healthcare system is fake... Just look at it, most of the stuff we've been told is fake. Once you realize this, what you've thought of as reality begins to look like a cheap set on some ridiculous B movie.
The world is upside-down. Doctors destroy health and the news media doctors information. Cops on the take, lawyers take us to the cleaners. The Supreme Court mangles justice, Universities distort knowledge, bankers crush our wealth and phony up their own. Governments torture liberty, and twist freedom. Religious leaders garble truth and pervert spirituality while they promise pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die. Politicians lie, consumers buy. Corruption runs rampant and everyone just accepts it as the price of doing business. So we go on trusting experts and professionals to keep the whole mess going a little longer.
The whole system is a criminal syndicate... a self-organizing group of greedy individuals, companies or entities formed to promote a common interest, namely to control the useless eaters, extract their wealth, and profit form their slow death... We are living on their farm, they milk us and then they kill us.
In the Age of Pisces-Virgo people looked for a great leader or teacher or messiah to show them the way... but in the New Age of Aquarius-Leo we will unlearn such beliefs, stop submitting to false authority and reclaim our autonomy and individual sovereignty. This is what it means to unSpy!